Osama’s death: ‘ROT IN HELL’ is most powerful headline

Among the newspaper front pages about the killing of Osama bin Laden, the New York Daily News stands out for its power.

New York Daily News front page, May 2, 2011.

The Daily News’ “ROT IN HELL!” headline made the mostly local paper the hottest news website on Google Trends, ahead of national sites USA Today, Drudge Report, Fox News and the New York Times.

It also out-Foxed Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post, which used the relatively restrained “GOT HIM!”

Other papers that used naked expressions of hatred included the Philadelphia Daily News (“WE GOT THE BASTARD!”) and Edmonton Sun (“BURN IN HELL!”)

The sentiment wasn’t shared within the Catholic church. The Vatican put out a statement saying “Faced with the death of a man, a Christian never rejoices.” On the Catholic Answers forum, one reader said: “But yes, ‘rot in hell’ is disgusting…we are called to something ‘higher’ as Christians.”

An explosion of traffic has made it difficult to get to Newseum, the site that aggregates front pages.